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The Central Ohio Transit Authority is thinking about that question in the High Street
corridor.

COTA has about a dozen routes that operate on some stretch of High Street between the north end
of I-270 and Obetz Road near the former Southland Mall.

CEO Curtis Stitt said at the authority’s monthly board meeting last week that COTA is looking at
consolidation there as part of a broader evaluation of its bus system. Buses can become
bottlenecked on High Street and in other corridors with redundant service.

The assessment won’t be finished until the second half of 2014, and any recommended service
changes likely won’t come until 2015, he said.

Stitt said he was struck by the similarities between an early service map and today’s when a new
employee found COTA’s first annual report from 39 years ago.

“As the public transit agency, we’ve got to look at how we move passengers more efficiently,” he
said.A change in traffic law last year that made it legal to turn left on red from a one-way street
to a two-way street will be fixed this summer.

The law was changed in the state transportation budget bill that takes effect July 1, Ohio
Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Faulkner said.

A mistake in the language of House Bill 349, which set out to align Ohio law with federal rules
for traffic-control devices, left out a key phrase to allow drivers to make the turn from one
one-way street to another. Without the words, drivers could legally make a left on red onto two-way
streets, crossing a lane of traffic.

It was unclear who made the mistake. ODOT provided the language for the bill.

ODOT has installed three new warning signs on the East Side to alert drivers to stopped
traffic.

The signs went up near the ramps from southbound I-270 to Broad and Main streets and at
eastbound I-70 near the Broad Street entrance ramp.

The signs, which cost ODOT $483,000, will be tested next week before becoming fully
operational.

Last year, 14 people died and 225 were seriously injured in more than 9,600 rear-end crashes on
Ohio interstates, according to the agency.